Safeguarding

“Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.“ KCSIE

Keeping Your Child Safe

Safeguarding is the absolute priority at Moreton School and is embedded into all aspects of our school. We are committed to keeping children safe both inside and outside of school and have staff (Designated Safeguarding Leads) who are trained to deal with issues relating to safeguarding and child protection. Our students and staff know who these people are as the information is highly visible around our building. In addition, all of our staff receive regular safeguarding training.

We take seriously our duty of care to all staff, pupils and families. The aim of our child protection and safeguarding policy is to promote welfare and make all within our school feel safe. We understand our community and its needs and shape our procedures to ensure that we can protect and care for our students and families. We respond to patterns in experience and data using our robust recording and tracking systems to inform actions, developments and whole school decisions.

We are committed to inter-agency working to keep children safe. Our ethos holds centrally the understanding that we must provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of all.

Moreton School will have regard for the statutory guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) issued under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, and the Non-Maintained Special Schools (England) Regulations 2015. This policy has been developed in line with legal obligations, including, where applicable, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Moreton School will adhere to the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). We will follow the DfE of What to do if you are Worried a Child is Being Abused – Advice for Practitioners. We recognise the NSPCC website also provides use additional information on abuse and neglect and what to look out for.

All child protection matters will be dealt with in line with the arrangements of Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together and West Midlands Child Protection and Safeguarding Procedures or, if relevant, the safeguarding partnership area children reside in or is under the care of.

If you have any concerns about the safety of a child at Moreton School then please contact one of our Designated staff listed below. If it is outside of school hours or during weekends or school holidays, please telephone Wolverhampton Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) on 01902 552999 to speak to a Safeguarding Advisor.

The government publication Advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) also provides information, advice and guidance that may be useful to you

Link to Keeping Children Safe in Education Document

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Communication with Parents

Our school will always discuss concerns with parents/carers and consent for any referrals should be sought unless to do so would:

Place the child at risk of significant harm or further risk of significant harm;
Place a vulnerable adult at risk of harm; and
Compromise any enquiries that need to be undertaken by children’s social care or the police.

The school will endeavour to ensure that parents have an understanding of the responsibilities placed on the school and staff for safeguarding children.

In the best interests of safeguarding children there may be occasions when the school has to consult with other agencies without a parent or carer’s prior knowledge. Our first concern and responsibility is the child’s welfare and we have a duty to protect children first and always. Such consultation may result in a formal referral which could prompt visits from social care and/or the police. We fully understand that this can be a very distressing set of circumstances. Our school will follow the procedures required by the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board.

Our school will employ the services of an interpreter if required.

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Curriculum

Child safety issues and child protection will be addressed through the curriculum where appropriate, especially through PSHE, Computing and E-Safety, Citizenship, Sex and Relations Education (SRE) and British values.

We use a variety of resources and approaches to teach the children how to keep themselves safe, build their resilience and manage risks.

The curriculum, and in particular the personal, social and health education development strand of the curriculum, includes an emphasis on relationships (relationships and sex education), building confidence and resilience in pupils and in developing preventative strategies to ensure their own protection and that of others. Opportunities are provided for pupils to develop the skills and strategies they need to stay safe from abuse, including age appropriate discussions about healthy relationships, their bodies and being able to say no to requests that they do not want to carry out. Clear advice and guidance is built into the curriculum to ensure that pupils understand that there is a range of contacts they can turn to for advice and support and that they know where and how to report abuse.

Current Safeguarding Concerns

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Child Sexual Exploitation

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is a form of sexual abuse which sees children/young people being manipulated or coerced into sexual activity for receiving ‘something’ such as; gifts, money, food, attention, somewhere to stay etc. Technology is very often used to groom victims. This may occur through social networking sites and mobile phones with internet access. CSE has gained a large amount of media attention over the last year as lots of services involved with children and young people have noticed a big rise in cases involving CSE.

Charities such as NSPCC and Barnardos have been campaigning to raise the profile of this form of child abuse.

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Internet Safety

Children and young people spend lots of time on the internet. They may go online to research information for homework or to play games, chat with friends and make new ones. The internet holds a massive amount of useful information and can also be a really good way of learning about new things and keeping in contact with friends and family. It can also be a very dangerous place so it is important that children are protected and monitored when they are online.

CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) has lots of information about how to keep your children safe online and parental controls. The link to the website is below.

CEOP – Thinkuknow

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County Lines

County lines is when a young person is sent to sell drugs normally in a rural town. They get their train ticket paid for and are provided with a place to stay where they remain untill the drugs are sold. They would then need to pass their earnings onto the drug dealer. In some situations they are mugged by the drug dealer and then owe the drug dealer the money that was stolen. This means it is very difficult to get out of the situation of having to go away to sell drugs.

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Reporting a Concern

If you have concerns that a child you know is at risk of serious harm through Abuse or Neglect it is important that you report your worries to the correct agency.

The link below will direct you to the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Social Service page, which tells you how to report a concern.

Wolverhampton Social Services

Below is the link to the ‘Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Together’ organisation. ‘Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Together’ is a statutory board which has been set up as part of the Every Child Matters government reforms. The board ensures that all organisations that work with children work together to keep children and young people safe from harm. The board undertakes this role through providing training, the development of policies and procedures and awareness raising.

‘Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Together’

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Female Genital Mutilation

In April 2014 every school in England received new safeguarding guidelines and detailed information on identifying and responding to Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is a procedure carried out on young girls between the ages of infancy and 15 years of age.

Female Genital Mutilation is classified as a form of Child Abuse in the UK. It therefore makes the procedure of it a serious Child Protection issue. It is illegal for anyone to perform FGM in the UK or to arrange for a child to be transported to another country for the procedure. The maximum sentence for carrying out FGM or helping it to take place is 14 years in prison.

There is lots of information and support available online for parents/carers concerned about this subject or if you know someone who is at risk:

Contact the Police if you think that a girl or young woman is in danger of FGM and is still in the UK.
Contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) if she’s already been taken abroad.

The NSPCC has detailed advice on how to spot the signs, symptoms and effects of FGM and provides support for people who are concerned about a child or who have been affected themselves. The link to the website is below.

NSPCC FGM

Safeguarding Contacts in School

Miss Dagnall

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Prevent Lead
Designated Teacher for CAYPIC/PLAC
Deputy Headteacher

kdagnall@aatrust.co.uk